Conversations with the Earth

Tom Burbinetburbine@framingham.edu

• The lighter-colored areas on the Moon are called the highlands

• Luna 2 - impact on the surface of the Moon (1959) (USSR)• Luna 3 - first photos of the far side of the Moon (1959)

(USSR)• Apollo - Six manned landings on the Moon with sample

return 1969-72. – (The seventh landing, Apollo 18, was canceled for

political reasons)• Luna 16 - automated sample return from the Moon (1970)

(USSR) • Clementine - a joint mission of the Ballistic Missile Defense

Organization and NASA (1994)• Lunar Prospector - the first NASA mission to the Moon in

almost 30 years (1998-1999)• SMART-1 - The European Space Agency’s (ESA) spacecraft

orbited the Moon and then crashed into the Moon in (September, 2006)

• Japanese SELENE mission (also known as Kaguya) orbited the Moon

• Goal was "to obtain scientific data of the lunar origin and evolution and to develop the technology for the future lunar exploration"

http://www.selene.jaxa.jp/en/about/image/img_equipment_001_e.jpg

Pythagoras Crater from SMART-1

http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/image_of_day_060626.html

http://cdn2.libsyn.com/astronomy/moon_show20.gif?nvb=20081110153501&nva=20081111153501&t=0b619a8f8100c5f7820f5

Pythagoras Crater from Selene

http://wms.selene.jaxa.jp/data/en/hdtv/006/hdtv_006_3/hdtv_006_3_l.jpg

Diameter 130 km, Depth 5.0 km

• http://space.jaxa.jp/movie/20080411_kaguya_movie01_e.html

• India's national space agency launched Chandrayaan-1, an unmanned lunar orbiter, on October 22, 2008.

• Estimated cost was $90 million

• The probe operated for 312 days

• Its scientific objectives were to prepare a three-dimensional atlas of the near and far side of the moon and to conduct a chemical and mineralogical mapping of the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Chandrayaan_1.jpg

• A total of 382 kg of rock samples were returned to the Earth by the Apollo and Luna programs.

• Apollo - 381.69 kg

• Luna – 300 g

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1970-072A

Luna 16

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Apollo_16_LM.jpg

Apollo 16

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Apollo_15_Genesis_Rock.jpg

Apollo 15 sample“Genesis Rock”Very ancient sample4 billion years old

Rocks and More Moon

• Mineral – A naturally occurring, homogeneous inorganic solid substance having a definite chemical composition and characteristic crystal structure

• Rock - naturally occurring aggregate of minerals

Forming Different Mineralogies

• Can be on a planet-scale

• Or a few meters to kilometers

http://www.gly.fsu.edu/~salters/GLY1000/8Igneous_rocks/Slide16.jpg

Some minerals formbefore other minerals

What minerals form?

• Depends on the composition of the magma

• Depends how quickly the magma cools

Types of Rocks

• Igneous – rock that solidified from molten or partially molten material

• Metamorphic - rock that has changed in composition, mineral content, texture, or structure by the application of heat or pressure

• Sedimentary – rock formed from material that was deposited as sediment by water, wind, or ice and then compressed and cemented

Igneous Rock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Magma.jpg

Metamorphism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Quartzite.jpg

Quartzite

Sedimentary• Examples of two types of sedimentary rock:

limey shale overlaid by limestone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Limestoneshale7342.jpg

• Rock formed from sediments covers 75-80% of the Earth's land area

Lunar Meteorites

• 44 known as of today

• only 1 in 1200 meteorites are lunar

• Lunar meteorites go for $800 and $40,000 per gram. By comparison, the price of 24-carat gold is about $20 per gram and gem-quality diamonds start at $1000-2000/gram.

http://epsc.wustl.edu/admin/resources/moon_meteorites.html

Mare

http://epsc.wustl.edu/admin/resources/moon/howdoweknow.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Lunar_Ferroan_Anorthosite_60025.jpg

Lunar Highlands

• Highlands – contain Al-rich material– Plagioclase feldspar - CaAl2Si2O8

• Mare – contain Fe-rich material – basaltic eruptions– Olivine - (Mg, Fe)2SiO4

– Pyroxene – (Mg,Fe)SiO3

– Ilmenite - FeTiO3

http://epsc.wustl.edu/admin/resources/moon_meteorites.html

Fe-rich

Al-rich

Magma Ocean

How do you form the Moon?

Any Questions?